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purposes"2. The area protected by this department is designated by the board of county <br />commissioners and generally referred to as an insurance district or response district. <br />County Actors in Providing Fire Services <br />Counties may appoint a fire marshal or assign the duties of a fire marshal to other <br />county employees. The county board of commissioners sets the duties of the fire <br />marshal including but not limited to, advising the board on improvements and assisting <br />volunteer fire departments in improving their capabilities. (G.S. 153A-234) In addition, <br />the board of county commissioners can appoint athree-person fire protection district <br />commission to administer funds to provide fire protection to the district (G.S. 69-25.7) <br />under the supervision of the county commissioners. <br />Funding County Fire Protection Services <br />There are a variety of ways in which a county can finance rural fire protection services: <br />• Appropriate general fund revenue <br />• Establish a rural fire protection district funded by property taxes in response to <br />resident property owner petition and a vote <br />• The board of commissioners may designate certain areas as service districts and <br />taxes can be levied to fund fire protection. Like a rural fire district, a service <br />district does require additional taxes, but does not require a vote <br />• Fire protection may be funded privately <br />Rural Fire Protection Districts (Chapter 69 of the North Carolina General Statutes) <br />According to G.S. 69-25.1, to establish atax-supported rural fire protection district 35 <br />percent of residents living in areas outside of the corporate limits of cities or towns must <br />petition for the establishment of a rural fire district. After this petition, the board of county <br />commissioners must call an election in the district designated by the petition to ask <br />"qualified voters" for the approval of a special tax on property to provide fire protection in <br />the district. This tax may not exceed 15 cents per $100 of property value. If a rural fire <br />district was established with a valuation of 10 cents per $100 of property value, the <br />board of county commissioners may call an election in that district to increase the <br />maximum tax rate to 15 cents. Money generated by this tax should be kept in a special <br />fund used only to furnish fire protection within the rural fire district. In this case, the <br />taxes levied for fire protection may also be used for emergency medical, rescue, and <br />ambulance services. (G.S. 69-25.4) <br />G.S. 69-25.5 describes ways in which the board of county commissioners may use the <br />money collected under the tax levied in the rural fire district. County commissioners may <br />use the funds levied by this tax to provide fire protection by: <br />• Contracting with an incorporated city or town <br />• Contracting with an incorporated nonprofit volunteer fire department or <br />community fire department <br />• Contracting with the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources <br />• Furnishing protection itself if the county has its own fire department <br />• Establishing its own fire department <br />• Using any two or more of the above listed methods <br />2 County an Municipal Government Article 33 p. 2 <br />